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Abstract

Gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) have been considered as novel heavy metal ions sensors due to their ultrafine size, photo-stability and excellent fluorescent properties. In this study, a green and facile method was developed for the preparation of fluorescent water-soluble gold nanoclusters with methionine as a stabilizer. The nanoclusters emit orange fluorescence with excitation/emission peaks at 420/565 nm and a quantum yield of about 1.46%. The fluorescence of the Au NCs is selectively and sensitively enhanced by addition of Cd(II) ions attributed to the Cd(II) ion-induced aggregation of nanoclusters. This finding was further used to design a fluorometric method for the determination of Cd(II) ions, which had a linear response in the concentration range from 50 nM to 35 μM and a detection limit of 12.25 nM. The practicality of the nanoprobe was validated in various environmental water samples and milk powder samples, with a fairly satisfactory recovery percent.
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).